Thank You

WKNO and TSC hosting costume exhibit and documentary screening

WKNO-TV/FM and Tennessee Shakespeare Company (TSC) are inviting the public to the WKNO Digital Media Center on Sunday, January 20 at 2:00 p.m. for a one-hour documentary viewing and unveiling of a new Shakespearean costume exhibit, curated by TSC designer Bruce Bui. The exhibit and screening accompany the upcoming PBS series Shakespeare Uncovered. Tickets are free but limited, and can be reserved at wkno.org.

"The Apparel Oft Proclaims the Man*" – A "Shakespeare Uncovered" Costume Exhibit will be unveiled at an opening reception on January 20, followed by a showing of the first episode of Shakespeare Uncovered: "Macbeth with Ethan Hawke". The exhibit will then be available for viewing for a limited engagement through January 31 during office hours at WKNO.

The exhibit and screening kick off several events that WKNO and TSC will host together as part of a community-wide project to celebrate the works of Shakespeare and expose the community to his plays. The two organizations will hold special events – such as screenings and workshops – produce special pieces for television and radio, and much more thanks to a national grant from WNET in New York for the PBS series, Shakespeare Uncovered.

The partnership between TSC and WKNO is one of only ten such collaborations between public television stations and Shakespeare companies in the United States to receive the grant by WNET.

Shakespeare Uncovered airs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. on WKNO2, beginning January 25, and Sundays at 4:00 p.m., beginning January 27, on WKNO/Channel 10. A complete schedule is available at wkno.org.

Shakespeare Uncovered is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the generous support of the project's lead foundation sponsor, the Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation. Major funding is also provided by Rosalind P. Walter, The Polonsky Foundation, Virginia and Dana Randt, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, and PBS.

* Quote from Hamlet, Act I Scene III Line 55-81.

News

Midsummer Night

AC Wharton, Jr. Visits Romeo and Juliet Project in Action

Romeo and Juliet Project - 4th Year

Memphis Shakespeare Training Intensive

Midsummer Night

Memphis, TN (June 15, 2015) – Tennessee Shakespeare Company, in partnership with the University of Memphis’ Department of Theatre & Dance, presents its second developing musical reading on the U of M mainstage with Midsummer Night by Valerie Vigoda and Brendan Milburn on June 27 at 7:00 pm.

Tickets for the reading are just $15, or $10 for Students and Seniors.

Midsummer Night,directed by Janet Roston, is the second of three developing musicals in TSC’s inaugural Showplace Memphis: Musical Works in Progress.

Broadway's Katrina Lenk and Eric B. Anthony

Sponsored by one of Broadway’s elite musical licensing companies, Theatrical Rights Worldwide (TRW) and President/CEO Steve Spiegel, based in New York City, Showplace Memphis has been devised as the next creative stage for three musicals en route to full productions in New York and on the regional theatre circuit across the U.S. The first musical in Showplace Memphis last month was a very successful reading of Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical. The final musical will be a charming and surprising new piece, The Oliver Experiment (August 15).

TRW has selected the musicals, and the Actors’ Equity casts and directors are coming from all around the country and Memphis.

The cast includes Broadway’s Katrina Lenk (Once; Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark; The Miracle Worker) as Titania and Eric B. Anthony (The Lion King; Hairspray; Mary Poppins) as Puck.

Songwriters Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda join with co-creator/director Janet Roston (Artistic Director of The Los Angeles Rock Opera Company) for this new take on William Shakespeare’s beloved comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The musical is set within a modern-day rock festival. It’s a rollicking collision of rock music, iambic pentameter, and hipsters – where rock stars Titania and Oberon quarrel, festival assistant Puck creates havoc, and roadie Bottom gets a chance to shine.

Keyboardist Milburn and electric violinist Vigoda have been singing and writing songs together for over 20 years, first for their band GrooveLily, and more recently for musical theatre and film. Theatre: Striking Twelve, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, Beautiful Poison, Wheelhouse, Toy Story: The Musical, Long Short Story, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, its complete reworking as the rock musical Midsummer Night, and Ernest Shackleton Loves Me. Film: many songs for Tinker Bell for Disney animated movies. Additional music is provided by Gene Lewin.

The Midsummer Night creators and cast will collaborate and rehearse at the U of M for ten days leading up to its reading. Though it will be going through both script and music changes, Midsummer Night will be played and sung in its entirety and with musical accompaniment on the U of M’s mainstage. No other design elements (scenic/costumes/lights) will be integrated.

Audiences will have an opportunity to speak with the actors and creators of Midsummer Night immediately following its reading. Audiences also will inform the production by completing an audience survey that will help the creative team in future development phases.

Memphis Mayor AC Wharton, Jr. to Visit Tennessee Shakespeare Company’s Romeo and Juliet Project in Action at East High School Monday, March 23

March 17, 2015 – Memphis Mayor AC Wharton, Jr. announced today he will observe first-hand Tennessee Shakespeare Company teaching and playing its Romeo and Juliet Project with 100 ninth graders in four simultaneous sessions at East High School on Monday, March 23 at 9:00 am.

“On behalf of TSC and our Board of Directors, I am so proud and honored to have Mayor Wharton joining our teachers in the classroom,” said Project creator and TSC Education Director Stephanie Shine. “It was at the Mayor’s urging we created this Project, and I am excited for him to see his challenge come to positive life.”

Tennessee Shakespeare Company began its nationally-recognized, four-part performance and in-school residency in the Memphis area in January. The Project, now in its fourth year, brings a cast of eight professional actor-teachers into each Language Arts classroom at a participating school. Students are guided by the actors to live the play’s urgent tragedy of young love amidst rage, experiencing its relevant story while ensuring that participating freshmen have a first exposure to Shakespeare that is active, rich, and rewarding.

As the teenagers in the play face armed violence, students discover positive actions available to them in their own lives in the face of real conflict. Student post-Project assessments have recorded a 20% increase in students’ compassion as a result of their inclusion in The Romeo and Juliet Project, as well as a full letter grade increase, on average, in Language Arts classes.

The Residency concludes with an intimate performance by the actor-teachers of Romeo and Juliet, which encourages student participation.

By the end of March, The Romeo and Juliet Project will have performed the play 44 times in 27 Memphis area schools, and will have taught the Residency in 342 classroom visits in 11 schools. At least 4,360 high school Freshmen will be reached and positively affected by The Romeo and Juliet Project. That figure represents 34% of all freshmen in the Shelby County Schools system.

Tennessee Shakespeare Company Kicks Off Fourth Year of Nationally-Recognized ROMEO AND JULIET PROJECT

27 Schools

44 Performances

342 Classroom Visits

4,360 High School Freshmen

(January 15, 2015) -- Tennessee Shakespeare Company has begun its nationally-recognized, four-part performance and in-school residency The Romeo and Juliet Project in the Memphis area this week, starting with Germantown High School and all of its 530 Freshmen.

The Project, now in its fourth year, brings a cast of eight professional actor-teachers into each Language Arts classroom at a participating school. Students are guided by the actors to live the play's urgent tragedy of young love amidst rage, experiencing its relevant story while ensuring that participating Freshmen have a first exposure to Shakespeare that is active, rich, and rewarding.

As the teenagers in the play face armed violence, students discover positive actions available to them in their own lives in the face of real conflict. The Residency concludes with an intimate performance by the actor-teachers of Romeo and Juliet, which encourages student participation.

By the end of March, The Romeo and Juliet Project will have performed the play 44 times in 27 Memphis area schools, and will have taught the Residency in 342 classroom visits in 11 schools. At least 4,360 high school Freshmen will be reached and positively affected by The Romeo and Juliet Project. That figure represents 34% of all Freshmen in the Shelby County Schools system.

Student post-Project assessments have recorded a 20% increase in students' compassion as a result of their inclusion in The Romeo and Juliet Project, as well as a full letter grade increase, on average, in Language Arts classes.

The Schedule

Friday, July 24 from 6pm - 10pmSaturday, July 25 from 10am - 10pmSunday, July 26 from 10am - 4pm.

Adequate time is allotted for meal breaks.

Is This for You?

This workis designed to serve both professional and aspiring actors, age 21 and older, who want to speak Shakespeare with clarity, skill, and passion. The Intensive is strategically limited to 12 participants to ensure that everyone receives personal coaching and attention.

What is the Intensive Training?

Exercises in Linklater voice, Alexander and Trish Arnold movement, and text work based on John Barton's work and Neil Freeman's First Folio research, will be used to free up breath, voice, impulses, imagination, and the actor's intelligence. Individual monologue coaching will focus on developing a personal, passionate connection to Shakespeare's text. Participants can expect to leave the Intensive personally enriched and enlightened.